Trouble and Strife
by amazonian rush
Summary: TAIORA When asked why, she would say he's young, or too social, or too much in love with soccer, or too chatty, blah blah blah. But what this ice queen would never, ever say is that she loves him. What would he do? Why is he handcuffing her to her bed?


_**The Magician and the Tiger: A Strange Pair**_

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**_

* * *

"You're dating _a__ guy __younger__ than__ you_?"

The stylist, otherwise known as Miyako, stopped mid cut and gaped at me.

I took a deep breath. "Yes."

The woman whose pink hair was being cut by Miyako before she was shocked by me beamed. "Yeah, Miko. Isn't that great?"

My business partner Mimi, alias the woman with the pink hair, had the mind of a five-year-old and insisted on calling everyone by their unflattering nicknames which she invented herself.

Some people, like Miyako, didn't mind because Mimi gives them cash and entertainment. What's wrong with a simple nickname, they said.

Some people, like my other business partner Yamato, were constantly put on edge when Mimi call them names like 'Yama-chan' or 'Sweet Pumpkin' in front of their girlfriends, which promptly ends their relationships with their girlfriends…

No matter how much Yamato yells or begs or cries, Mimi still won't budge from her cheery nickname-calling habit.

"That's… That's great." Miyako gulped. "But does he know… You know…" she glanced at Mimi.

I raised an eyebrow. "Know what?"

"About…" she gulped again. "About you and, and… Mimi?"

Feminine laughter poured into our ears. "I've met him, Miko!"

"What!"

My eyebrow rose higher. "What's the matter?"

"But-but…" she stammered. "I didn't know you're OK with that!"

"OK with what, Miko?" Mimi asked sweetly.

"With cheating!"

"Cheating?" I interrogated her. "Who's cheating?"

Mimi gasped. "It's Yama-chan! Yama-chan's cheating, isn't he?"

I shushed her before she could create a riot. "Please make yourself clear, Miyako."

She swallowed a gulp.

"You and Mimi? You call each other partner… so I thought… and you're always together…"

Peals of laughter rang through the boutique.

Strangely, it didn't come from Mimi.

* * *

_I was never a fan of parties, but Mimi hauled me to one and shoved me in front of a guy as she floated away to argue with Yamato._

_I smiled tightly. "Hey."_

_He grinned. Strangely, he didn't find the sight of a red-haired woman with tousled business suit smeared with cakes and muffins alarming._

_His big hands enveloped my small ones. "I'm Taichi. Taichi Yagami." He cocked his head to a dishevelled Yamato. "Yamato's best buddy since four. You must be the lady he wants me to meet."_

_The glare I gave Yamato seemed to pierce a hole through his head because he turned away a tad too fast._

_His grin broadened. "You don't really want to be here, do you?"_

_"Yes."_

_He roared with laughter. I wondered if I had said something funny._

_"I like you. I really do."_

_I did a double take. "That's unexpected."_

_"I'm blunt. I admit it. Arrest me." He held up his hands._

_I bit my lip. "I'm afraid I don't have any handcuffs on me."_

_"I can give you one." _

_One of the blue, he wrought a pair of handcuffs from his coat. Laughter escaped me._

_"What are you? A policeman? A detective?"_

_"Not even close." His smile was brilliant. "I'm a magician. You know those people who lock themselves up in water filled containers? And the ones who chop people up just for the fun of it? "_

_My lower lip trembled. "You mean those maniacs?"_

_"That's my nickname. The Japanese Maniac."_

_"You should be locked up."_

_"Would you give me the pleasure?" he dangled the handcuffs in front of me._

_I smacked my lips. "How old are you?"_

_His big shoulders shrugged. "Twenty-three."_

_Disappointment dawned on me. The flame of interest flickered and died. _

_"You're too young to play with handcuffs." I said coldly._

_"My lady, I'm no longer underage." He gave me a smile, as if he's sharing a private joke with me. The twinkle in his eyes stirred a mischievous feeling inside me._

_"So." I smacked my lips again. "Are we still on?"_

_"After you, milady." He produced a rose from my hair. Despite his age, I was still amused by this guy._

_"Show me some tricks." I laid my hand on his._

* * *

_"So I thought," I said to Mimi afterwards. "Why not?"_

_Mimi licked her lollipop. "But nice guys like Taichi are not your recipe."_

_"Ha ha. Why is that?" I challenged her, my hand on my waist._

_"You will slice them like bread." Mimi leaned over the counter. "And spread criticism on them like butter. Then you will eat them slowly, chewing them until they become nothing but parts of your saliva. Then you digest them. Then you fling them somewhere dirty."_

_"Uh." Yamato emerged from the office. "Sorry to disturb your highlights of the day, Mimi, but I smell something burning…"_

_Mimi yelped and stormed to the kitchen. Then we heard a tiny shriek._

_Yamato ignored her. "So Taichi said he'll pick you up at eight."_

_"Alright."_

_He retreated back to his office, but his words droned back to me._

_"Sheath your claws, tiger."_

* * *

_I bombarded him with questions that night._

_Good-humouredly, he answered them with a strange openness I found… disconcerting._

_Honestly? Comforting._

_"So I have a little sister who loves to bump me off my bed," he poised the fork midair. I noticed his clean fingernails. "She thinks there are ghosts underneath her bed, so I have to give up mine. Strangely, she doesn't think there's any under __my bed…"_

_I smiled. "How old is she?"_

_"Eighteen and she was proposed to when she was sixteen." I gave him a look. He laughed. "It was a joke between me and Yamato's little brother who's her best friend. Her face was so red that I just had to take a picture."_

_"Did she find out?"_

_"Yeah." He grinned. "She hopped around the flat, screaming at me like a banshee when Takeru confessed…"_

_I had to laugh. After I calmed down, I asked him again. "You only have one sibling?"_

_He nodded vigorously. "But it never feels like it."_

_"Why?"_

_"Yamato and his brother are always over at my apartment that I think of them as my brothers." he said fondly._

_"Do you have your own apartment?"_

_"My dad threw me out when I was eighteen because he got tired of answering the door at three in the morning." He smiled. There was that twinkle again. A warm feeling crept into me. "So now I live with my little sister who got thrown out as well. Sometimes Yamato camp out at mine and it feels like family."_

_Somehow, talking to Taichi felt like family too._

_So when Taichi insisted on paying, I didn't think he was sexist. When he offered to commute with me, I didn't think it was corny. When he walked me up to my door, I didn't quickly turn away._

_Instead, I stood on my toes and gave him a kiss on the lips._

_When he produced a rose out of nowhere and proposed me to a second date right there and then, I couldn't say 'yes' fast enough._

* * *

"So." Miyako tied a white cloth around me. "You enjoyed your time with him." 

"Yes."

"You slept with him?"

Mimi looked up from her magazine, staring at me with wide eyes. Her hair had changed to scarlet.

"On the third date." I affirmed.

Gasps resounded around the boutique. I guess Mimi and Miyako weren't the only ones listening to me. I wondered why they bothered. Maybe the gossip mills were on a snail-pace that day.

"But… But… Taichi's not your type!" Miyako exclaimed.

"Yeah!" Mimi agreed enthusiastically. "You like the kind you can fight with! The kind who wouldn't cry when you don't call! You like your evil twins who are just like you!"

"Um," Miyako said. "I think you've gone a bit too far, Mimi…"

I just shrugged. "Who knows? He might be my long-lost twin."

"Taichi's nice..." Mimi trailed. The tiny wrinkles on her forehead cleared magically. "You like him."

I shrugged again. But I knew there were two tiny red spots on my cheeks.

Busted.

* * *

**A/N: I love writing this. It's been fun to write it, so I hope you guys enjoy it too because it's a gift for you. Yes, this is not a one-shot because I want to practise my writing skills yet again...XD Bear with me. There are no clear plots, all up to my fancy.**

**Taichi's twenty-three, as you might already know. This charming guy's lady is twenty-seven and a bit cranky. She hates talking, so we would see more of her thinking and asking than talking, as opposed to the chatterbox Mimi who's twenty-two and Mr. I'm-Tired-Leave-Me-Alone-Mimi Yamato, who's of the same age as Taichi. Thank you for reading this. Here's a smiley for you:**

**;p**

**All standard disclaimers applied. **


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